Gorham Middle School SAIL

  Every year, Odyssey of the Mind holds a pin competition inviting OMERS to create pins representing our beautiful state. This year's pin requirements had to represent Maine animals munchin' on Maine foods, with one of the pins being a bird. Pin collecting is HUGE in the OM world, and every state and other countries designs pins to represent their part of the world. At World Finals, Pin trading with OMERS from around the world is an incredibly popular hobby, and this year, Jessica Loiselle's design was selected by the Maine Odyssey of the Mind Board as the official 2024 Maine Bird Pin! For the last 23 years, Maine OM has sent a bird pin to the World Finals. There are people from around the world who are on a mission for the Maine Bird Pin every year. So, this year, I am very excited to share that Jessica's pin design will be sent to the manufacturer soon and used to represent our state at the World Finals this year.  Below are some images of pin trading at the World Fin...

 Every year right before Halloween, the SAIL-ELA students write two-sentence horror stories for a schoolwide competition. Students and staff read the stories and vote for their favorites.  This year the winners were... 6th grade winner: Riley Peters   I just had a terrible nightmare, and wake up to the absence of color that is a blind person’s life, when I hear my mother’s voice say “Don’t worry, it was just a dream.” My mom died 13 years ago today.  7th grade winner: Max Moreno My husband asked what kind of meat was in our soup. Funny that he didn't notice that our two kids weren't at dinner that night. 8th grade winner: Dexter Vance The driver of my Uber was utterly silent, only talking at the beginning of the ride, saying that he was locking the doors from the outside “for your own safety.” I heard my phone ding and checked it; it was from Uber; the message said: “I’m out front.” Overall winner: Dexter Vance!! Wahoo!!

  The International Academic Competitions offer regional, national, and international competitions for students in grades K-12 through competitions including the National History Bee, National Geography Bee, and National Science Bee.  Students need to first complete a regional qualifying exam consisting of 50 multiple-choice questions in 20 minutes to be eligible for the regional finals. At this time, w e currently have 8 students registered for the  Southern Maine Regional Finals (wahoo)! The competition is scheduled for  March 2nd  at St John's Catholic School in Brunswick.    Here is the schedule:  Regional Finals Schedule This link provides more information on the process and how it all works:  Qualifying Process . Lastly, here is the website with many resources and information:  International Academics Competitions .